Inhuman
by Geekasauruz
Summary: Victor Stone had resigned himself to the fact that he was completely alone in the world. He had comrades, but they were completely organic. He had people he'd consider calling 'friend', but they were organic as well. They had secret identities. They could lead normal lives, fall in love, start families... Everything that he couldn't do. That is, until he met someone more like him t
1. One

**_Chapter One: Infiltration_**

Victor Stone wasn't usually one for playing well with others, despite being an important member of two of the biggest metahuman teams in the world. Those teams felt more like families to him. He never went home from his work; he didn't have a secret ID to hide behind. Because of that, he had plenty of alone time once everyone else went home. Now though, he found himself scanning local transmission streams for any irregular energy patterns. In other words, he was expecting someone.

He had selected this vantage point overlooking the H.I.V.E outpost in the clearing ahead. The position provided adequate visual cover, and Victor's own electronic countermeasures would ensure that he wouldn't be detected by any instruments in the area. This was meant to be a low-profile infiltration job. Data retrieval from an isolated server. What was different however, was that this was a joint operation with an Australian special forces splinter, designated 'Group 6'.

Vic hated the code names and secrecy, but the intel and resources behind this operation were made apparent when he was contacted by the Pentagon. The coordinates and bearing of this place were withheld until Vic agreed to the mission...so he had little choice in the matter. He said yes to this joint proposal because H.I.V.E had somehow managed to obtain a piece of technological data known as the Amazo Algorithm. If someone didn't relieve them of that layout, they'd be able to use the data to encode androids with the ability to replicate any super-powers they came into contact with, and anyone could tell you how dangerous that would be.

The other reason was because his partner was described as 'someone of similar talents and personal circumstances'. The most he managed to mine from the encrypted files on the Group 6 servers was a data packet about an asset called 'Hyperion'. Again, Vic wanted to scrub the stupid codename and replace it with 'Nonsensical Bullshit' for laughs.

This 'Hyperion' was noted as being an experimental chassis that contained organic material, but apart from that was entirely mechanical in nature. Some part of Victor, buried deep within the grim, jaded shell, hoped that this would be a person who would understand. He knew it was a stupid hope to have...but he had it, nonetheless.

Suddenly, his scans spiked. He grimaced. Whoever this was, they didn't seem to care about being detected. Their energy signature was immense. Vic did his best to wipe the signature and mask it with background emissions from radio and cell phone signals, expecting to get a thank you later from whatever this was.

Before too long, he began to hear, and feel, immense footsteps shaking the ground. He turned to the rock pass behind him and sifted through various spectral filters to see what was coming. Whatever it was...it was massive and incredibly dense. It must have been the source of the energy spike.

It soon came into visual contact and Victor found himself sighing in disbelief. "I was informed that this was an infiltration op..."

His partner was an eight-foot-tall mechanical being, lined with glowing purple inlets and exposed circuitry. Its head bore a pair of matching purple optical sensors, which gazed up and down at Victor's cybernetic body. "What makes you think that I need to be small to infiltrate? Isn't that sort of narrow-minded?" The Australian accented voice of a young woman responded sharply. It was slightly digitized, but possessed human emotion.

"I heard you coming and I had to mask your energy sig since it was so damn big."

"Oh, I flooded their sensors with noise so... yeah."

Victor, whilst somewhat irked by this person's attitude, was pleasantly surprised by her caution. "Huh..."

The massive machine, what Victor assumed was the Hyperion from the data, stomped forward towards the clearing and stopped just shy of it. "How do you want to do this?" She asked considerately.

"Those electromagnetic pulse turret emplacements gotta go first. One hit from any of those and we're both down for the count. Seems like they were expecting us."

"I detect...four?"

"Verified, same here."

"We should split up and disable two each, then reconvene once the base is on alert."

With a nod, Victor agreed. "One last thing though."

Hyperion turned to face him, head cocking curiously.

Victor continued "I know you're special forces, but me being here automatically makes this a Justice League operation. And that means non-lethal methods of attack only. We clear on that?"

She paused for about 5.2 seconds according to Victor's internal clock, then responded remarkably cheerfully "...Only because I like you. But if I need to choose between killing a terrorist and letting them get away with that data, I want you to know that I'll choose killing a terrorist."

Vic wasn't ready for how smoothly that went. Even the Titans, his friends since he was a teenager, couldn't go five seconds without arguing about something. Maybe...he found someone who was on the same page as he was, well, almost at least? He dismissed the thought and pushed through the brush.

This Hyperion character seemed capable enough to Victor, and he didn't have the lowest standards. That said, she was military, and if Victor learned anything from his time as Cyborg, it was that they either couldn't be trusted to do the right thing all the time, or they always had their own hidden agendas. He'd have to keep an eye on her to make sure she adheres to his recommendation.

Minutes went by, and Vic waded through the surrounding forest with his eye peeled. He peered upwards at the supporting structure of one of the watchtowers. At its peak was a large turret, glowing with electricity. On this platform were two H.I.V.E soldiers, keeping an eager eye out.

The tower itself fed into a perimeter fence that ran around the entire facility. From where Victor stood, the only way to go was up.

With a thought, Vic propelled himself into the air with a burst of jet thrust from boosters installed in his feet. Mid-air, he set his sights onto the two guards and prepared to strike quickly and quietly. Half a ton of machinery landed on the tower with a thud, and Vic launched a startling jab at the nearest soldier. The unexpected blow instantly rendered the man unconscious, dropping him like a brick.

After this attack, Vic simply backhanded the other soldier, sending him crashing into the EMP turret face first. He then quickly scanned their vitals, ensuring that both were knocked out but otherwise fine. Immediately, he turned to the weapon emplacement and laid a hand onto it. The components that made up his hand shifted and morphed into several different input cables. One by one, they carved their own paths into the circuity and patched Vic into the turret's systems.

Feeding the coordinates of the other turret into its firing processor, Vic took a step back to watch the fireworks.

The massive weapon whirled as it turned to face its new target and flashed white hot for a split second. A crack of thunder filled the air as the opposing turret tower was engulfed in lightning, sparking and permanently disabled from the electronic damage.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Vic morphed his right hand into his signature white-noise cannon. The cybernetic arm clinked and clacked as it transformed, folding and unfolding itself into a much larger cannon.

Vic pointed, sent a thought through his system and eviscerated the EMP turret with a blast of vicious energy, ensuring that both guns were out of play.

As he took it out, he saw two bright blue flashes as the two others imploded with bright crimson explosions. Vic took that as a signal to leap off of the tower and land loudly on the concrete below. The barking and howling of more H.I.V.E soldiers answered his arrival, and he promptly replied with fire from his cannon as they came pouring out of a nearby guard station.

As the soldiers ran towards the Cyborg, they were knocked off of their feet by a wave of blue energy and thrown onto the floor like dolls.

On the other side of the facility, Vic spotted Hyperion's gigantic frame making her way over to him. A massive cannon sat on her shoulder; undoubtedly what she used to destroy her two EMP turrets. It dwarfed them in size. Victor noticed that its barrel was covered in coil-shaped formations, and deduced that it was some kind of mass driver. Hyperion turned away and braced. Two clamps flipped out of her calves and secured her into the ground as her gargantuan weapon groaned to life.

The flash of its fire came without sound, and so did the orange trail it blazed through the air and into a nearby warehouse building. Almost a second later, the sound came and washed out anything else that Victor could hear. It was like a mechanical scream, followed by the sure explosion of the building. H.I.V.E personnel threw themselves from the wreckage, fearful and desperate.

Vic jogged up to Hyperion and cocked and eyebrow. "Was that necessary?"

Hyperion turned her metal head to Vic, and chirped "If you had a focused plasma gauss rifle I'm sure you'd find any excuse to use it."

"I do." Vic responded, forming said weapon and firing off a shot at an unmanned tank before any troopers could get to it. The machine exploded and rained shrapnel down upon the rest of the base. He pushed himself to move towards the destination; a room in the main complex. "But it's reserved for heavy armour...like it should be." Vic scalded.

"No way... that small? Amazing! Is that even possible?" Hyperion gushed, seemingly glazing over his passive-aggressive remark.

"It's not small, yours is a little big. Compensating for something?"

"Maybe I just like 'em big."

Vic shook his head in disbelief.

Weapons fire lanced off of the pavement as Vic's overdriven pistons drove him faster than any human could run, and Hyperion did her best to keep up despite her size. Her palm split open and she pointed it at the group of soldiers, behind the cover of several titanium crates. As she ran, she slowly raised her aim, adjusting for the projectile's arc under gravity, and fired.

A small orb came roaring out of her palm, arced over the soldiers' cover and bounced once before retracting its outer layer. A targeting laser painted the bodies of each soldier within a millisecond, and one taser dart per man shot outward from the device.

The guards were shocked into unconsciousness as Hyperion and Cyborg continued on their way to the complex. As they reached the main entrance, Vic pressed his hand against the keypad by the door. "You might need to stay outside. Pretty sure they didn't account for your height when they built this place."

He glanced at her, and was taken off guard when bursts of air were vented from various hardpoints on her structure. Suddenly, and most surprisingly, Hyperion's chassis split open, and out stepped a similar but more slender and shorter mech. It shared the same design language as the larger unit, but vaguely resembled the shape of a female body, opposed to the golem-esque physique of the main suit.

"What are you, a babushka doll?" Vic quipped bluntly.

"Cute. I'll send the shell to the other end of the facility and make a mess; that'll give us some room to breathe."

Automatically, the larger suit marched off, firing its secondary weapons randomly at the ground, in order to draw attention to itself.

Vic, whilst still not smiling, wore an amused look on his face as he stepped back. The door to the complex split open as he said "I'm impressed."

"I try my best."

Cyborg sealed the door as he and Hyperion slipped inside. As he did, he mapped out the building using an ultra-sonic scan pulse, beyond the hearing ability of normal people. The scan revealed that they were several hallways away from the objective. "This way. I'm detecting a mass of heat signatures in front of the server room."

Hyperion shook her head as she followed Cyborg. "Even if we get through them, I don't think we'll have enough time to crack their system before more hostiles arrive."

"Leave it to me."

The pair secured themselves outside the locked bulkhead to a corridor intersection. The entrance to the server room was in that intersection, but so were ten armed guards, according to Victor's scans. As he braced for a firefight, he automatically initiated an intrusion protocol to chip through the security walls to the giant metal door's mechanism.

He muttered "I'm almost through."

"Woah...you're hacking right now? As you're talking to me?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. I mean, I'm pretty good at multitasking, but I still need to concentrate on that kind of thing. That's pretty amazing."

"Focus now, small talk later." Victor sighed, frowning.

Hyperion leant casually by the bulkhead, not at all seeming ready for a fight. "Yeah, sorry. It's a nervous tick. Seriously though...you need to tell me how you do it."

As Cyborg's mind bypassed the last wave of counter-intrusion software protecting the door, he snapped "Now!"

The bulkhead sprung open like a jack in the box, and Victor popped out with his right arm outstretched. Opening fire at the heat signatures that he tagged, his energy fire struck three soldiers and sent the rest diving for cover behind a series of barricades they set up to fortify the room.

Hyperion didn't emerge from cover, rather she lined up her arm-mounted weapon with the heat signatures that Victor overlayed on her display whilst still in cover. Despite this, whatever the weapon fired still managed to penetrate the walls, as confirmed by the pained screams of the H.I.V.E troopers.

Victor realised that her weapon was a non-lethal directed energy weapon, most likely some kind of microwave emitter that pacifies hostiles with extreme pain caused by heating water inside a subject's skin. If that was it, he didn't have much time.

He sprinted into the room like a madman, keeping the positions of his targets in mind. As quickly as it all started, it was over once Victor knocked each man out with a single, well-calculated blow to the head.

Hyperion swiftly entered afterwards, fiddling with a series of holograms over her left arm. "Okay...more guys are inbound. Do you have an exfiltration plan?"

"We're taking the base." Victor answered as he barged through the sever room door. He quickly uplinked to the designated server stack with his left hand.

"Oh...okay. Command kind of said it was a drop in, drop out."

"You have a problem with that?"

Victor continued busting through the dense security protecting the Amazo data as Hyperion paused. "No. Of course not. I usually just do what they ask." She said, not sounding offended at all by Victor's stand-offish behaviour. "You know much about what they have stashed in there?"

He was already sick of all this talking...but if she was asking, she probably didn't know...and it annoyed Victor that these military types could trust their superior officers so much to be told to march into a place, kill people, and not ask questions. "This data is a core component of Amazo. Anyone with access to this information can produce metahuman-mimicking technology."

"Amazo...as in the giant super-powered android? Right..."

"Your people didn't tell you any of this?"

"No."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah. I have a job, and they have theirs."

"And I'm betting they told you to return with the data." She said nothing in response, and that was enough for Victor to say what he said next. "I'm sorry, but I can't let it leave this server. One Amazo was enough trouble."

Victor heard Hyperion's digitized voice sigh before she replied. "...I didn't sign up for this shit. I am so noting this in my report."

"Go ahead. Maybe it's about time you thought for yourself for a change."

Hyperion fell silent after Victor's comment, and at that point he made a decent dent in the firewall. If he just smashed the server, a talented enough computer expert or a technopath would be able to recover the info from the carcass. Victor needed to scrub it completely from the drive to ensure that no one could replicate it, and he was pleased that Hyperion understood this, since she didn't question his connection to the stack.

Without warning, Hyperion spun, discharged her energy weapon six separate times, and turned back. "Yeah, they're starting to catch onto our little stunt. They're not hitting the Atlas shell as hard as they were before."

"Almost there."

In order to buy some more time, Vic plugged static into the H.I.V.E trooper communications channel. It would take perhaps a few seconds for them to recover from the disorientation and remove their helmets, but any measure of time was worth the effort.

He inserted his purging program into the sever; it was coded to automatically purge the system before scrubbing itself and inducing a system overload, frying the hardware beyond repair as a precaution. Now that it was loaded onto the stack, he could disengage from the direct connection and leave a wireless transmitter in order to keep tabs on progress.

"Okay, virus is running. Time to focus on the goons." Victor snapped, heading back into the corridor.

Hyperion quickly answered with "Oh. Oh...we got incoming. Surface launched missiles."

Victor grimaced as they sprung through the facility once more. It seemed that Hyperion and himself were worth destroying this base, killing their own soldiers and sacrificing that Amazo data.

"They're shielded so we'll have to use microscopic waves on them, and the Atlas is armed with ballistics only. We have to get out there to take them out; no way we're bugging out in time." Hyperion briefed as she fiddled with the circuity of her directed energy weapon.

Victor's reason for destroying the missiles would be to save lives, but as long as Hyperion didn't stand in his way, he was complacent. He was glad that Hyperion picked up on the incoming fire while he was busy though.

As they came skidding to a halt at the entrance, which had been blown open by that last wave of soldiers, gunfire came pouring in from outside like hail. Hyperion dove behind cover as she cursed. Victor engaged his arm cannon once again and fired rapidly as he kept charging forward.

The enemy rounds bounced off of his promethium plating as the soldiers were blown off of their feet by Victor's energy waves. "Get a lock on the missiles; I'll keep 'em busy." Victor said to Hyperion on their comm channel.

"Sure thing. You're probably best suited for that."

Victor's scanner informed him that Hyperion slinked out of the hallway after his distraction, and took cover behind a fleet of trucks parked by the base.

His heat levels were beginning to spike...all of the fire he was taking and the physical exertion was taking its toll. The last handful of soldiers were positioned opposite the courtyard, peeking out from the cover of a concrete guardhouse. They were trying to get shots off at Hyperion, and Victor was assuming that her core form wasn't as indestructible as he was.

Morphing his hand into a controlled electromagnet, Victor concentrated the it at the four standing soldiers. They jolted and wrestled with their weapons, which suddenly were compelled to soar towards Victor like the bullets they fired. Fruitlessly they fought the magnet, until they were ultimately relieved of their rifles.

One by one, the weapons clanked stiffly against Victor's magnetic fist. "Stand down. You've lost." Victor barked dryly. The soldiers hesitantly raised their hands in surrender as Victor kept his cannon fixed on them.

On the horizon, Victor detected the two warheads on their way to the base. "How's it going on the missiles?" He asked.

Almost as if she was waiting for him to ask, two blossoms of fire appeared in the distance, where Victor's scans pegged the missiles.

The two secured the area after they dealt with the threat of imminent destruction, and rounded up the H.I.V.E troopers. Hyperion posted her Atlas shell to watch over the prisoners, as she and Victor spoke in confidence on the other side of the grounds.

"Well...for one thing, I think my superiors will at least appreciate that we have a gold mine of H.I.V.E resources to repurpose and potential intel opportunities from the staff. A team is incoming to mop up." Hyperion said to Victor.

Victor didn't waste any time in preparing a boom tube to take him back to the Watchtower. Although he enjoyed this jaunt, he still wanted to leave before the Australian military arrived. It took some internal argument, but Victor eventually looked into Hyperion's optics and said "The data's been wiped too. And...look, despite my attitude, I think we did well together."

"Me too. Well, because of you, I have a lot of explaining to do...but I'm okay with that."

The boom tube materialised behind Victor and he nodded curtly to Hyperion before he turned and strode through it, without a word.

Victor thought the H.I.V.E base takeover was done and dealt with for the next week or so, but he received a communique from Group 6 about a meeting they wanted to set up with him. They were shy with details, but Victor was expecting a lecture. He wasn't going to even bother with it, but Diana made a point that maintaining a relationship with international governments was beneficial to the Justice League's efficiency and reach, so Victor reluctantly boom tubed to the Group 6 headquarters in New South Wales. The rest of the League were generally rather stand-offish towards military organisations, but Diana saw the benefits in having their resources and backing.

Currently, Victor stood in a waiting room as a secretary sat behind a desk, staring at him as he bided his time by monitoring local environments. Obviously, to an observer, he was doing nothing. The ability to process data organically was one of his key strengths. And about the stares, Victor no longer cared. There would've been a time years ago when he'd get angry, sad or frustrated at it, but he accepted it now...and he didn't know whether that was good or bad.

The door to the office was pushed open by a middle-aged man with blonde hair, light facial scarring and deep chestnut eyes. "Come on in, mate." He said casually.

Victor heeded his instructions and drove his mechanical body through the doorway, as the man pulled the door shut behind him.

He was surprised to see a woman in the room as well, seated at one of the two chairs in front of the main desk. She looked at him with a pair of bright, eager eyes, that seemed to take in every single detail on his chassis. Her hair was longer than military regulation length; perhaps she wasn't your ordinary soldier. She didn't look afraid or surprised at all...almost like she had seen him before. She was dressed in a freshly pressed uniform that looked like it hadn't been worn before, ever.

The man walked back behind the desk and slumped into his chair. "Have a seat, son."

"I'm fine. Sir." Victor replied.

The officer simply nodded in recognition. "I'm General Hanson, head of Group 6. I just wanted to have a...word with you after the Amazo mission." He began, as he fiddled with an unlit cigarette. "Everybody else wants me to have a yell at you two, but I think you made a good call. You saved lives by sticking around. We tracked the missiles to a hidden battery that we missed on the last recon flight. They could've opened fire on any major Australian, Vietnamese or New Zealand city without our knowledge. But now, we raided the place and disabled those artillery placements."

Victor's brow furrowed when Hanson said 'you two'. He sighed as his eyes fell onto the woman. She was just a human, then. He suddenly felt like a fool for expecting Hyperion to be someone like him...someone who was different in such a way that no counselling could fix them.

"Despite what the rest of command is saying, I think this could be the start of a good relationship between Group 6 and the Justice League. I'd like to keep communications with you open, Mr. Stone. I'll be able to send any assignments through to you that could benefit from your technical expertise and talents. Anything you do will save the lives of the men I'd have to send in your place."

Victor nodded. It sounded nice, but it always did on face value. With that open channel, he'd be able to plant a bug. If Group 6 was up to anything fishy, he'd know before they did. For the time being, he'd cooperate. "Thank you, General. But know that I'm not a puppet."

Hanson finally placed his cigarette onto the table. "Of course. I admire what you and your colleagues do; you have to remain impartial to politics, I understand. As for Specialist Reid, I hear that you worked efficiently together."

"You could say that." Victor answered coldly.

Reid shot Victor a confused glance.

"These assignments will be overseen and managed by her. I'm a fan of the unconventional methods you two used in your last outing, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it."

———————————

_**Author's Note**: This story is part of my DC series, which consists of eight stories (Invincible, Escape Velocity, Throne of Atlantis, Inhuman, Mortal, Peacekeeper, Elysium, and Legacy). It's not necessary to read them all if you're not interested, but they will link together as if they were operating within the same universe._


	2. Two

**_Chapter Two: Nuclear Fission_**

The Watchtower was Victor's real home nowadays. It used to be the Titans Tower, but he'd grown much more powerful since he first became a Cyborg. His mind was the most efficient processor on the face of the planet, and he dedicated it to keeping an eye on the entirety Earth. Whenever he picked up anything strange on cameras, microphones or encrypted messages, he'd notify the authorities or dispatch a League member if the trouble was too much. He was constantly monitoring the planet a hundred times per minute...and twenty-four seven.

A blip came up on his display, indicating a highly important message from Group 6. Their last joint operation paid off, but Victor wasn't seeing the long-term purpose of that kind of relationship. At the end of the day, Group 6 was military and that meant they couldn't be trusted. He pulled the message then opened it, and it read:

"Mr. Stone, this is a priority message. The terrorist Joseph Martin has attacked a city centre in Sydney Australia. We are in desperate need of League assistance."

Victor frowned. The Atomic Skull... He was one of Superman's more reoccurring villains, meaning that he was usually the one to take care of him. That meant that Group 6 definitely needed a hand. This would be a difficult task for certain Justice League members, let alone a small group of military personnel.

Cyborg quickly examined all possible outcomes, and he concluded that it would be best if he informed Superman of this situation but he was a few galaxies away, and completely out of immediate contact range. That only left him or Diana, and he hadn't seen her in weeks.

Victor wasted no time in opening a boom tube - a travel portal fuelled by a Mother Box. Victor was one of the few that could get the thing started up. Usually, it was a pain in the ass, people always had to contact him directly to use it, but there were rare moments where it became useful.

In less than minutes Victor found himself standing in the centre of the city, the Sydney Opera House crumbling in the distance. The surrounding area was mostly evacuated, with the exception of the few stragglers that were still running to their cars. One of them had seen Victor on their way and screamed in fear... He was mistaken for the villain more than he was ever praised for being a hero so he had learned to ignore people's terror at the sight of him. It would hurt later though. It always did.

"Cyborg!" A familiar, digitised voice yelled, and as Cyborg honed his attention back to the task at hand, he saw Hyperion in her large mechanical suit. It was badly damaged and beginning to circuit out. Around her were the bodies of her teammates, red tubes and wiring spilling out from their bodies.

"What's your condition?" Victor quickly asked her, wading past the corpses that littered the ground.

"Severe hull damage. Weapons are functional, operating at eighty two percent efficiency." She replied without hesitation "Radiation shielding is almost gone...he seems to be getting stronger."

"We need to shut him down before he detonates."

"According to these readings, that might be soon." Hyperion said in a clear voice that didn't show even an inch of fear. "I can't take another hit from him though."

"Then we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen." Cyborg said calmly. He ran the calculations in his head, and she was correct. At this point her radiation shielding was barely intact, but it was the only thing keeping her alive. If she isn't killed by the energy blasts, Atomic Skull's natural radioactive bleeding would kill her. "Where's Martin?"

"Our team led him away just before you arrived. They won't last long." She said lowly, stepping forward with a heavy clunk of metal. There was a rattle within the suit as well, one that insisted that it was near breaking point. "He'll be back soon. Do you have a plan?"

Victor didn't have time to reply. As soon as he'd opened his mouth both of their monitors lit up red, warning of a threat approaching. Victor morphed his right hand into a Gauss cannon and aimed towards the threat. When Atomic Skull came into view he discharged the weapon, and the slug came roaring out of Victor's arm.

The projectile slammed into Atomic Skull's chest, thrusting him backwards slightly. Skull's twisted glowing face turned to Victor "Where's Superman? Bring me Superman!"

A purple hot fireball of pure atomic energy roared at Victor, who easily leapt away from the oncoming volley and behind an upturned truck. His sensors picked up a defunct tank in the distance. If he assimilated the hardware, that cannon could prove to be a welcome upgrade. Victor's current Gauss cannon seemed to be doing some kind of damage, but it wasn't enough.

"I can try to drain his energy...but I'll have to get to that tank." Victor said to Hyperion over comms. "It should be enough firepower to knock him down long enough."

"Okay. I'll get his attention."

"Just don't be a hero." Victor said, peering out from his cover.

Hyperion muttered "Yeah, I'll leave that to you."

The giant mech jumped out from cover, holding a large plasma gun and charging it to full power. Hyperion's index finger itched against the trigger, and when the weapon made a beeping noise that informed her that it was ready, she shot at Atomic Skull.

It zapped right into his shoulder and forced a strangled growl out of his throat. His gaze instantly flicked in her direction in pure rage. Power like that would have ripped most people's arm off... but he didn't look injured in the slightest. At the very least his arm was still intact.

In his fury, Atomic Skull formed more layers of energy in his hands and threw them towards Hyperion. Her suit was so large that it proved difficult to dodge the attack, and so she was unable to completely evade being hit.

"Hull playing of Model Atlas compromised." A voice spoke from inside her suit, warning her of the damage. "Cooling system is offline. Overheating will commence in less than ten minutes."

"Great..." Reid sighed from inside the two husks. She was already starting to feel the temperature rising. Victor, thankfully had managed to move towards the tank but he would need time to alter its gun for his personal use. She had to continue distracting the enemy...

"Bring me Superman!" He yelled, hands filling with more energy in an attempt to intimidate her.

"He's got better things to do, and stronger enemies to face." Hyperion teased. "You're just small fry compared to them."

The man clenched his teeth at her words, grinding them together as if he were trying to file them right down to the nerves. His face scrunched up, then seemed to turn red with anger before he rushed towards her.

Atomic Skull lifted her heavy suit with all his strength and pushed her against a near by building. The metal straps holding her in place snapped and she jolted inside of both husks. She felt her back smack against the metal and hissed at the pain it brought.

All that was visible to hear was his outraged face, and the fist that he was charging with energy. He was getting ready to make the final blow, and Reid knew that this would mean the end for her.

"Pressure on outer shell of Model Atlas rising." The robotic voice informed Reid. The heat inside the of the suits was increasing dramatically, and his grip alone was threatening to break her protection apart.

Just before Atomic Skull got the chance to punch through her suit, a loud banging noise filled the air. The man's eyes widened and his body shook before he finally collapsed, releasing Hyperion in the process.

Reid had barely had time to compose herself by the time Cyborg rushed over, two of his fingers forming into cables that clipped onto Atomic Skull. He zapped the remaining energy out of him, and when he had none left to give, the villain fell unconscious.

"That tank's gun proved useful then?" Reid said, trying to straighten her back but feeling a sting of pain that ceased her movement altogether.

"You wouldn't be standing here if it didn't." Victor replied a little coldly. He could tell that she had been injured, but he distanced himself by not even bothering to ask.

Reid's face contorted beneath the suit into an expression of confusion, and suddenly she was glad that he couldn't see it. Why was he acting so disconnected now? The first time they'd worked together he was completely different... or at least it felt like it.

"What are you going to do with him?" She asked, though she knew the answer. It was her last attempt at making the atmosphere less awkward.

Victor summoned a boom tube and threw Atomic Skull's limp form over his shoulder. "Stryker's." Was his simple reply.

Reid nodded, and in turn, so did the suit. Stryker Island's prison was the most fortified one they had on Earth. All dangerous and powerful criminals were taken there and put in cells designed specifically for each of them.

Without another word Victor had disappeared into the boom tube, and traveled back across the ocean to Stryker's. Reid was left standing there in an overheating unit, spine still tingling with pain. Without a moment to spare, she opened both husks and stumbled out of the units. Walking was painful, which meant that she'd definitely done something to her back.

"Glad to see you alive, Reid." The voice of General Hanson said from behind her.

The woman turned, still trying to catch her breath. He was standing right beside her mech suits, eyes gazing over the damage done.

"Barely..." She responded breathlessly. "I was unable to save the rest of Group 6...Sir."

"We don't blame you, Specialist. Atomic Skull is usually fought by beings more powerful than anything we can even imagine. You did what you could. We're just grateful that Cyborg answered our alert in time to assist you." The superior officer stated, eyes now shifting to the lifeless bodies of his agents. "Still, this doesn't bode well for this unit. There's no Group 6 without a group, after all."

Reid gulped. She was aware that this meant the end of her military career, at least for a while. It was difficult to imagine trying to get a regular job to finance her studies and inventions... Even more so to fit in with the everyday crowd.

"We realise that your particular skills would be wasted if you were to blend with the general public." Hanson continued as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. "And so, we've organised for you to be put on a new team. One with others that can match your power when in the suit. Unfortunately though, you will be required to transfer from Australia.'

Reid's brow furrowed. She was willing to move locations for work, but she couldn't decipher where exactly they were reassigning her. The Australian military didn't operate outside of the country... unless they were trying to secure allies.

\--

Victor returned to the Watchtower soon after handing Atomic Skull to the staff at Stryker's. He had gotten lucky this time around. The fight had been fairly simple to win, though he wasn't willing to admit that Hyperion's teamwork was an important aspect in it. Still, it was painfully obvious that he had to find Wonder Woman. With Superman out on an intergalactic mission she was essential in keeping the Justice League above water... especially when it came to villains beyond their power.

Cyborg had assumed that she was cursed to some ancient Greek legend - The underworld, for example. He had no proof of this, only that he could find no other trace of her. Diana had mentioned that it was a reoccurring theme for either Ares or Hades or some other so-called 'God' to trap her there. Victor thought it was all bullshit at first, but once you actually meet them it's hard to ignore.

"Hey, Vic." Hal greeted as he continued hacking the terminal for any clues to Diana's whereabouts.

"Hal." was Victor's short reply.

"Can you meet me in the Hanger?" The Green Lantern asked coolly, fiddling with the ring on his right hand.

Victor unplugged himself from the mainframe, and this alone was enough of an answer to have Hal exit the room. Cyborg followed suit but never ceased running the calculations in his head. If Diana was in the Underworld, and if the Greek mythology was to be taken as fact, then depending on where she landed it could take weeks for her to return. Perhaps even months.

There were five main rivers in the underworld; Styx, Acheron, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Cocytus. Oceanus, or known by the ancient Greek's as 'the river that encircled the world', marked the east edge of the underworld. So, in simpler terms, the ocean apparently connected the Mortal and Immortal realms. From this he could deduct that Diana had a long journey before she could return.

Next, he searched for information on specific areas of the underworld... but was soon distracted from this mission. He had just entered the Hanger when his analysis had started. He'd only managed to find writings about the Elysium before spotting a foreign entity in the room. Immediately on guard, he prepared his arm cannon to assemble. However, the entity turned and he recognised it.

"Hyperion." He said lowly. "What are you doing here?"

"Victor." She said in a much warmer tone than he could manage. "I was accepted as a member of the Justice League. I suppose we'll be working together more frequently."

Victor's expression would have darkened if the left side of his facial circuits had allowed it. Instead, only half of his face showed any emotion at this discovery. If anything, it made him look even more frightening than intended. He didn't approve of her on the team, not in the slightest. He never liked new recruits, but especially not her. She was from the military, accustomed to following even the most unsavoury of orders.

This disapproval lead to the question of who exactly had accepted her as a member. The only one with the authority to allow her into the League without anyone else's approval was one of the original team. Superman wasn't there to do it, The Flash was never willing to look over such requests, Aquaman was scarcely in the Watchtower to begin with, Batman would never have said yes, Wonder Woman was missing, and... Green Lantern.

Cyborg turned his head and spotted Hal leaning against the wall with a grin. Victor bared his teeth at the man but it had little effect. "Why did you approve of this?"

"I thought it was important to maintain a friendly relationship with the military, especially ones in different countries. It'll be easier to reach them if something goes wrong." Hal answered with a shrug. "I didn't see the harm in giving her a chance."

Victor grimaced "That's stupid, Hal. Even for you."

The Green Lantern, quite uncharacteristically, frowned. He took a step forward. "Look kid, you might like to think that I'm just a reckless hotshot, but I helped find this team. The others trust my judgement, and so should you."

Victor fell silent.

"Besides...she doesn't have anywhere else to go, Vic. The League's been open to people like that since the beginning. You should know."

Victor grimaced, not exactly happy at how Hal brought up his past like that. Still, there was no arguing with this decision, even he knew that.

"And besides, I heard that you and Harper work pretty well together." Hal teased, and it didn't take long for Victor to realise that he was calling Reid by her first name. The Green Lantern up to Victor and patting him on the shoulder. "It's the reason they came to us first."

Victor grumbled something but Hal didn't stay long enough to hear it. With a wave in Reid's direction, he exited the Hanger. Cyborg could imagine the smug look on his face...

"Victor." Reid's voice called out just as he was about to leave as well. "Is there any particular reason you're giving me the cold shoulder?"

"...I'm not."

"Don't lie to me." Reid sighed, crossing her arms. "That angst could get someone killed, especially if it prevents us from working as a team. I suggest you sort yourself out before that happens."

Victor grunted his response but didn't say anything more on the matter. He'd been on the team for far longer than she had, and quite frankly, he didn't appreciate being told how to do his job. He would work with her when he needed to, but outside of that his attitude meant nothing. He didn't have to be civilised. He wasn't human anymore... So why should the possibility of being unfriendly mean anything to a machine?


	3. Three

**_Chapter Three: A Warm Welcome_**

The Watchtower had been feeling incredibly crowded of late... not that it wasn't already. In particular, Cyborg thought there was always one person too many in there with them. That person was currently fixing the damage done to her metal suit.

Cyborg, despite his lack of stealth skills, attempted to pass by the hanger where she was working without getting caught... He wasn't in any mood to engage in casual conversation. As expect, he failed.

"Model Atlas is almost at fully functional capacity now, Victor." Reid said without even needing to glance in his direction.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that, Reid." Cyborg hissed, metal heels clunking to a stop.

"And I thought I told you to start calling me Harper." She said, still tweaking some of the systems on the hulking suit. "I'll need a hand to transfer my other assets from the Group 6 hangar."

Victor knew of course that she referred to his ability to open boom tubes...and as much as he wanted to say no, even he wasn't that unreasonable. Transporting stuff to an orbital space station costs hundreds of thousands of dollars...if you're not the Justice League. "Give me the coordinates."

As if she'd already expected his co-operation, she halted working on her suit for long enough to saunter over to him. She then reached into her pocket to grab hold of a small piece of paper and handed it to him. "Thanks."

"Let's just get this over with." Cyborg grunted lowly. He simply scanned the sheet with his sensors and a boom tube popped into existence behind Harper.

Harper trailed into the portal and remained out of sight for several minutes. She came back through...followed by half a dozen robotic suits varying in size and shape. One was more of a vehicle than a suit; it had twin rotary propellers and space for two to ride on the outer hull. Apart from that, it was a multi-purpose fleet of armour controlled by her mind.

Once all of the models were clear of the portal, Victor shut it down and it fizzled out instantly. He resorted to eyeing out the hardware that Harper was now inspecting. "These things are all neurally controlled...?" He muttered.

"Yeah. Took me a while to lessen the mental strain...still can't control more than two in a combat op." She explained casually, fiddling with several panels on one of the larger models.

Instead of offering to help Harper with simplifying her firmware in order to more efficiently distribute the neural load, Victor asked "Is that all you needed?"

She finally looked into Victor's eyes and nodded. "Yes... Thank you." Harper said sincerely.

Cyborg, with the false hope that this would be the end of their interaction for the day, turned to make his leave. It wasn't long before he reached the exit when he heard the woman call out to him again.

"Before you go, Victor..." She said, and he cringed at the use of his name. "The first time we met we worked together pretty well. You were even willing to talk to me after the op was done. I was wondering why that changed."

Cyborg fell silent. He wasn't expecting her to be so blunt about it. She didn't even sound offended or upset by his attitude, only curious. Like her mind worked in a sufficient manor similar to his... if there was a problem that could affect the team, address it directly. Still, he couldn't answer her question. He knew it wouldn't make sense to anyone but himself.

"I think I might know why...if you don't mind." She said. "You saw me in the suit and thought I was like you, a cybernetic frame with a human mind."

"I was misled." Cyborg growled. "I was told that you were like me, but it was a misunderstanding."

The girl's expression dropped slightly. "I am like you, Victor."

Cyborg scoffed at her, his cybernetic eye glowing brighter than before. He would usually let such comments slide, knowing that they were empty tokens and lies disguised as comfort. This time though, he couldn't. It had been building up for far too long to ignore.

"You're nothing like me." He spat.

Harper's mellow demeanour finally began to crack as she monotonously rebutted "You'd be surprised."

"Would I?" Victor hissed. "I'm stuck like this. I can't hide it, I can't take it off. I've forgotten what it's like to feel someone touch me. Information constantly streams through my mind, and the only way I can stop it is to shut down. Like a goddamn machine."

The woman's expression dropped to one of pure sympathy. There was a part of her, however small, that could understand his situation... but it didn't seem appropriate to mention. "Victor... I..."

Suddenly, there was a lapse in Victor's focus. Several of his scanning programs had flared, and Victor noted the flags mid-conversation. According to the alerts, there was a hostage situation on a high speed train in Poland.

Harper's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket.

"...How is that phone working? We're in orbit."

Harper cocked her head and replied snidely "Maybe you're not the only smart person on the planet. I'm coming with you to help out with that train."

"You hacked into my network?"

"No...well, it wasn't like you were going to give me the password, right?" She quipped, jogging over to one of her human-sized suits.

Stencilled on its chest was 'VAL' in thick white lettering. This machine was much more heavily armoured than the other small assembly that Harper used in the H.I.V.E raid; Victor noticed that one in the corner, labelled 'ATHENS', and it was much more form-fitting than the armoured hulk before him. According to Victor's scans, this suit had thick titanium alloy plating, a pair of arm-mounted 9mm SMGs, a shoulder mounted launcher that could fire grenades or RPGs, and an additional handheld assault rifle that could collapse and store within the suit's shin. It's joints were reinforced by motors and pistons, indicating that it enhanced the wearer's strength unlike the Athens.

"...I hope you don't plan on using that firepower." Victor snapped.

The Val suit smoothly folded open, and Harper slipped out of her bomber jacket and tossed it carelessly onto the floor as she stepped inside. The suit sealed her within, and the purple lights that ran along its body shone brighter.

"Relax. Rubber bullets and smoke grenades only, now." Harper's digitised voice replied. "How are you going to open a portal on a moving train?"

Victor was irritated at how Harper kept insisting on hanging around him...but people's lives were at stake at the moment so he didn't want to waste any more time. "Maths." He said dryly.

His next move was to triangulate the train's location and speed, coordinate his boom tube generation to move as fast as it did, and make sure there weren't any tunnels coming up. Teleporting inside of the train was way too risky, especially with passengers inside, so Victor opted to drop onto its roof.

Harper was surprised that this plan had actually worked. Before she knew it they had stepped into the boom tube and landed on the top of a train roaring two hundred miles an hour down a stretch of track.

Harper was almost thrown from the vehicle before she magnetised her suit's feet to the surface, much like how Victor did.

"Jesus..." Harper swore.

Instead of responding, Cyborg had already found an access hatch and buried his cybernetic hand into the seam. With ease, he flung the panel away and leapt inside as the wind blew through the carriage, scattering anything light enough in its path.

Harper followed him in and swept her arm guns around, checking for hostiles.

The carriage that they had landed in was completely empty, but in the next one they could see a crowd of people shivering in fear.

"I'm picking up an explosive in that cart." Harper reported, her voice wearing the signature distortion that her suits provided.

Victor's scans also denoted several armed men hiding behind the walls and passengers. He promptly assessed "Don't fire. They're using human shields."

"Rubber bullets...?" Harper teased.

"They could be lethal if they hit the wrong spot."

"Fine. But you worry too much." The armoured soldier retorted.

"You don't worry enough." Cyborg snapped back. "I'd suggest a smoke grenade, then switch to infra-red. I'll disable their weapons, you take care of them."

"Easy." Harper said. "Especially compared to Atomic Skull."

"Don't get cocky. That gets people killed."

Harper rolled her eyes in the privacy of her suit. He didn't see it, but he could sense it. "I'll get it done."

Harper cautiously opened the door to the next carriage, and pointed her wrist at the opening. With a pop, a small canister was fired from her arm and bounced into the occupied car. Smoke swirled from the weapon and quickly filled the entire area.

Both Cyborg and Harper could see with near perfect vision once they switched to infra-red, but everyone else in the carriage was rendered all but blind. This made it easy for both of the League members to jump into position.

In an instant Cyborg had fired a plasma beam, set on stun in the unlikely chance that he missed, and knocked one of the guns out of the terrorist's hand. Whilst the villains were still wrought with confusion, he did the same to the next four.

"What's goin' on 'ere?!" One of them yelled just as the smoke began to clear. His answer came when a incredibly long, heavy and elastic wire shot out of another of Hyperion's metal arms. It wrapped around his body and pinned his hands to his sides. The weight of it had him falling to the ground instantly. The next two followed suite before they even had a chance to look back.

The last one, however, had managed to peer over his shoulder to see the mechanical husk. The man had a long boney face, tired hazel eyes, and straight but unruly blonde hair that almost fell into his eyes. In short, he had the sort of face you forget even while you're looking at it... Which was likely why he managed to blend into the crowd so easily.

Hyperion formed her right arm into a gun, the one filled with rubber bullets. After careful calculation she shot it right at his temple. As it bounced from his head the man collapsed to the ground of the rustling train in an unconscious heap.

"I thought I told you not to use those!" Cyborg hissed. "You could've killed him."

"But I didn't." She retorted calmly. "The chances of killing him were about 0.001 with the new targeting system I built in."

"That's still a chance you shouldn't be willing to take."

"The odds of dying by simply walking out the door are higher than that, I really don't see what the big deal is-" Hyperion's digitised voice halted for a moment. She had only just noticed how the people in the carriage were looking at them... They looked just as terrified as before. "Uh... You guys are free to be seated until the next stop or, ya know, do whatever it is you were doing before this happened."

Still they remained here, staring up in terror. Hyperion was confused... Cyborg wasn't. An expression similar to anguish formed on the only human part of his face. It didn't take long for Harper to realise why he appeared so disheartened. The people they had just saved were now scared of them. It wan't uncommon for humans to be scared of the unknown, but Victor was still human at heart and she could see that it hurt him.

"We should go." He said in a voice devoid of any emotion.

"Yeah... I suppose so." She replied, unable to hide the sympathy drenched in her tone.

They moved to the empty carriage and Victor opened a boom tube. With one final look at the civilians that were still trembling at the sight of them, Harper stepped inside. In a matter of seconds they were back at the Watchtower and no longer subject to those judgemental eyes. Victor had quickly tried to retreat but was stopped, once more, by Harper.

"Wait... Victor..." She said lowly. Her metal suit clanked forward then split open. The small girl inside exited the armour, face gleaming with sweat from the heat radiating inside of the husk.

Cyborg, very reluctantly, turned to face her but not without a growl that rumbled through his circuits. "What now?"

"I just wanted to apologise for what I said earlier today." She replied softly. She now understood why he had become so offended by her words, despite their truth. "Maybe I expressed it the wrong way."

Cyborg remained quiet despite the urge to argue.

"I only meant that we think alike... There are more ways to relate to others than physically." Harper wiped her brow with the fabric of her sleeve with a sigh. "And I know what it's like to live through something else. To see with eyes that aren't really yours."

"Those suits of yours?" Victor groaned, trying to suppress his outrage. That was nothing like his situation at all.

"No, but I can see why you thought that."

Suddenly Victor found himself curious despite his scepticism. "Then what do you mean by that?"

Harper smiled weakly and shook her head. "I might tell you one day... If you're lucky."

This certainly wasn't the answer that he wanted, but it was motivation to at least stop ignoring her. He had scoured Harper Reid's files after she joined the team and there was nothing that could even remotely connect to what she was saying. In fact, much of her information seemed falsified but that wasn't uncommon in the military.

It wasn't Victor's job to know these things. It was his life. It was all he did all day every day. Find disasters, send the appropriate hero to mend the situation, and hack databases to learn everything about everyone. Now that she was a part of their team any information on her was more valuable than ever, and even though he'd prefer to break into some forbidden documents to find it, her telling him would suffice if necessary.


End file.
